What is the best way to have an object only partly submerged in a fluid sim?

I want this object to be only halfway in the water but the simulation is putting a lot of turbulent waviness all over it. It does not look submerged. Looks more like the object is producting bubbles (but they are stuck to its surface).

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If I make it not interact with the water then I don’t get this initial splash that I want earlier in the simulation.

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I tried keyframing “use effector” on the object so that it stops interacting with the water after a certain point but there is no transition. The appearance just instantly changes in 1 frame and looks unnatural.