Bizarre Surfers Paradise ‘smoke’ phenomenon shocks onlookers

Residents of a tourist hot spot have been left baffled after a bizarre spectacle hundreds of metres off shore. Here’s what authorities had to say about it.

Residents of a tourist hot spot have been left baffled after a strange spectacle appeared hundreds of metres offshore.

Several people took to Facebook to share their photos of what appeared to be three plumes of smoke rising from the ocean off Surfers Paradise beach about noon Thursday.

A resident shared this picture of ‘smoke on the water’ off Surfers Paradise.

“What is happening here?” one woman wrote on Facebook.

“Is that smoke?” another asked.

“Yes, it appears that it is ‘smoke on the water’,” another social media user added.

The ‘smoke’ that appeared off Surfers Paradise beach about noon Thursday. Picture: Rebekah Jane

A police spokesman said no marine incidents had been reported at Surfers Paradise about noon.

Volunteer Marine Rescue, the coastguard and the Gold Coast chief lifeguard were contacted for comment, but could not provide an explanation.

It was understood many attributed the sight to a training exercise that occurred at the seaway earlier Thursday.

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