A man and his dog spent all of Saturday night floating on a jet-ski off the Queensland coast, before being found by search and rescue aircraft on Sunday morning.
The black and red Sea Doo carrying a 45-year-old Townsville man and his dog, a staffy named Stubby, equipped with a life jacket, left Bundaberg Port bound for Lady Elliott Island. They departed about 2pm on Saturday but failed to arrive at their destination.
Police were told late on Saturday night about the missing jet-ski and launched an air and sea search on Sunday morning.
Just after 6am emergency services detected the man's EPIRB activation and confirmed his location using search aircraft.
The man and his dog were collected by Police Vessel Conroy.
Graham Kingston from Bundaberg's Volunteer Marine Rescue said their rescue catamaran, the Bundy Rescue II met with the police boat, the Conroy about 18 nautical miles off the coast in Hervey Bay and bought the jet ski back to Bundaberg.
"We bought the jet ski back to Bundy, but the gentleman and his dog remained with the water police, " Mr Kingston.
Bundaberg Port worker Samantha Jones said on Sunday morning she remembered patting the staffy yesterday as he headed out with his owner.
"The dog had this little life jacket on his back," Ms Jones said.
"And I just remember thinking how adorable he looked with that lifejacket."
- with Tony Moore
For independent news coverage, be sure to follow our Facebook feed.