Players in the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour volunteered to swim with turtles and other marine life to highlight the work Cape Town’s Two Oceans Aquarium is doing in the field of turtle rehabilitation. The players who took part in the swim are from the United States and Norway.

Talitha Noble, the conservation manager for the Two Oceans Aquarium led the players through a brief tour and induction into the facility. Noble said the aquarium has a rescue, rehabilitation and release programme for sea turtles. The turtles are taken care of and rehabilitated before they are released back into the sea.

Sarah Schermerhorn, a volleyball player from the United States, was invited by Beach Volleyball World to swim with the turtles. Schermerhorn has never been to an aquarium and thought it was cool to swim with Bob, a rehabilitated who has been at the aquarium for 8 years and is about to be released.

Anders Mol, a player for the Norwegian national volleyball team, said it was an amazing experience to swim with the turtles. Mol said swimming alongside Bob, the rehabilitated turtle, is something he never thought he’d experience.

The Volleyball World Pro Beach Tour starts on 2 November and ends on Sunday 6 November. A thousand cubic metres of sand has been used to turn Cape Town’s Grand Parade into a volleyball pitch.