I was under the impression that domed lenses were what one needed for underwater shots, not flat.
Normally that would be the case. But with the GoPro it already had a domed lens on the camera which gives it a really large angle of viewing. Since the camera is fixed focus, having a dome lens also on the housing puts the camera slightly out of focus underwater (due to the magnification of viewing through water). So the fix most people have identified is to change the housing lens to a flat lens and it brings the focal point back in line with the fixed camera setting.