Now, maybe I am missing something trite, but I've searched walkthroughs and nobody even mentions this happening, so I am wary it might be a bug.

Whenever I push the symbol on the wall in Akuda Bar to open the door to Room #1 (with the sleeping goat boy), it just immediately closes right away. If I dive I can get in, but then I just end up stuck in the room. Anyone else ever come across this?

that is messed, it should stay open, never happened to me, the gout just gives u a code to get a pearl from AS