Man Who Filmed Jet Ski-Riding Dog: ‘I Thought I Was, Like, Hallucinating’

Aldo Hafez was relaxing on the balcony of his downtown Fort Lauderdale apartment, eating a SpongeBob popsicle while taking in the view of the New River. That’s when he saw it: a man on a jetpack, seemingly pulling… a dog on a jet ski.

“At first I thought I was, like, hallucinating,” the 31-year-old YouTuber tells New Times, “because there’s a dog on a jet ski.”

Hafez grabbed his phone and started filming. He posted the clip on his Instagram page on Friday, two days after he says he spotted the surreal scene from his balcony at the Symphony. The footage features a techno remix of the song “Free Bird,” along with Hafez’s commentary: “Guys, there’s literally a guy that’s like — flying, but that’s not even the most impressive part.” The video pans as Hafez announces, sounding awed, “He has a dog on his jet ski!” And then, “What in the world is going on? Bro, what is happening?”

The Instagram post includes the hashtag #dogjetski, which, you may be surprised to learn, brings up other footage of what appears to be the same dog — a lifejacket-and goggles-wearing golden retriever — cruising on a jet ski. The posts date back to the spring of 2024, and the water sports-loving pair has even made the news before (Sample headline: Florida dog caught on camera riding jet ski in river). But the identities of the dog and man are unclear.

How does their stunt work, exactly?

“You know what,” says Hafez, “I’m not going to pretend like I know how it works either. I thought it was like a hovercraft thing, but then I guess the water is strong enough to propel him into the sky and he just has his dog there chilling on a jet ski.

“I guess it’s one of those things.”

The dog looked pretty happy, he thought: “I mean, that dog has a better life than me.”

On YouTube, where he has more than 5 million followers, Hafez makes videos involving action and adventure, often using animation and CGI as storytelling tools. Yet he says he could not have dreamed this one up.

Commenters have questioned the video’s authenticity, he notes, “but it’s 100 percent real.”

“Some people are thinking, ‘That’s AI,'” Hafez says. “They’re like, ‘That’s not real; it’s not possible.’ But I saw it with my own eyes.”