after spawning on a server i wasn't able to see any textures, however silhouettes and contours of objects. so i could basically move through the world but my immediate environment was completely textureless. in addition all i could see was the ocean so it all looked "watery" or "made out of water". I wonder if this is related to the "bubble" as i was able to see the far distance normally textured as usual.
picture of the grotesque "waterworld": http://imgur.com/wstUBXp

after leaving and rejoining the same server everything was back to normal.
unfortunately i wasn't able to recreate this nor do i remember the exact server.