Day 11: Chilling, scuba diving and final thoughts

René Rougeau

Saturday, July 5, 2008 | 2:59 p.m.

Filed at 11:04 p.m.. July 4th, Cairns time

The time has come for my final blog and I am happy to say that we are all excited to get back to America on Saturday morning. On Thursday, July 3rd, out here in Australia, it was pretty much a chill day for everyone. Quite a few of the boosters, the coaches, and their families went out bungee jumping and/or took a trip out to the local rainforest. Me and the guys were not down for bungee jumping whatsoever! Beas, Wink, and I just stayed in the hotel and watched “Blood Diamonds” and “Semi-Pro.” Both were great movies and after they went off we went to an Internet café and grabbed a bite to eat. We continued to chill the rest of the day around the hotel until it was night time and then we hung out with the rest of the guys on the team.

It’s Friday morning and today is the day we head out to the visit the Coral Reef! I have to admit that I was very nervous seeing that we would be swimming in the middle of the ocean and we had the chance to go scuba diving. It took about an hour to get to our final destination at the Coral Reef. Once we got there, me and Matt didn’t waste any time putting on our wetsuits, and appeared to be the laughingstock at the moment. We didn’t care though because we made the suits look real good, and we were ready to go straight into the water. I had never seen water so clear in my life and it was such an experience just being out there in the middle of the sea. I was hesitant to jump in at first but I had my snorkel and flippers on and ready to get into the water. I finally jumped in, and the water was a bit cold at first, but eventually the wetsuits came in handy and the water felt great once we started swimming. I was glad to see Matt and Tre’Von get into the water because I did not think they were going to jump in at first.

A majority of the younger people went swimming, and it was amazing down there seeing all these different fish and the coral reef itself. Coach Grenseng’s daughters found it rather humorous to throw some fish bait in the area that me, Matt, Tre’Von, and Coach Henson’s son, Quentin were. These two particular fish were hands down the BIGGEST FISH I had ever seen in my life! It felt as if they were small sharks just lurking around us trying to eat the food. I was a little terrified, but I kept my cool and didn’t let them get the best of me. While we were in the water, Wink, Mo, and Beas went on a helicopter ride that took them 500 feet into the air and got a great look at the coral reef from a bird’s eye point of view.

The time was 12:30 p.m. and it was for me, Kendall, Scott, Matt, Tre, Joe, Bridget, and Rich Hilliard to go scuba diving. We all were nervous because none of us had done this before and there were several risks at hand if we didn’t pay close attention to our scuba instructor. Everyone was well prepared and ready to go down below and before we knew it, we were 30 feet down by the ocean floor. Our instructor made us lock arms at first as we traveled deeper down and then she finally let us swim on our own and we had an amazing time down there. I thought it would be harder than what it had looked on TV, but even the instructor told us that breathing is the easiest thing we could remember to do while down under. Everyone had a great time scuba diving and once we came back up, Matt and I went right back snorkeling until it was time to get out of the water.

As it was almost time to leave, the tide was becoming lower and lower, and the reef was sticking out of the water more and more every few minutes. It was time to leave and we all enjoyed ourselves to the fullest. This has been a great trip from the start to the finish; I couldn’t thank Coach Kruger enough for bringing us to Australia for this great experience that we all will remember for the rest of our lives. I’d like to thank all of the boosters, coaches and their families, and everyone who has been reading my blogs. I look forward to getting back to America, and even more can’t wait for our upcoming season to begin, for it will be one to remember for the ages! God bless you all, and see you on November 15 for our season opener.

Yours truly,

Rene Rougeau #24