[jeffmcmahan]

I live on Lake Erie, and I've seen this effect before. There will be a point between the shore and the horizon at which the water takes on exactly the hue and luminance of the sky, and makes lakers, sailboats, buoys, even a nearby lighthouse, appear to hover. If the point of transition in the color of the water is pretty straight and is parallel with the actual horizon, the effect is convincing.

[jeffwass]

That’s not the case here. In this case the ship was ‘hovering’ due to an atmospheric effect called Superior Mirage.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirage#Superior_mirage

[treesprite82]

The image in the article looks more like a false horizon (change in color of sea makes it blend into the sky), as jeffmcmahan is describing. You can just about make out the real horizon in the image.

Clearer example of false horizon: https://i.imgur.com/WHzQJ3Z.png

A superior mirage would usually cause more distortion and likely wouldn't so cleanly cut out the ship.

Clearer example of superior mirage: https://i.imgur.com/pa16mOk.png