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Gay Curacao Tour, the Site Inspection (Part 1)

October 23, 2014 by Zachary Moses

turquoise water and shady tiki hut on the Curacao gay dive week

By Zachary Moses

We’ve been running our Deep Blue Curacao diving trip for several years, but last year we had to cancel it since the lodge we have been using was shut down after the management company declared bankruptcy. Luckily no one had signed up for our tour at that point, but we still had several disappointed divers when they found out that they couldn’t sign up for the tour.

Happily our beautiful lodge has reopened under new management, and it fell to me to do the arduous task of site inspection…poor me. (Actually this was a long-deferred personal vacation, but also a perfect opportunity to make sure that our lodge was back up to our standards.)

I’d never been to Curacao and didn’t know what to expect. It was nighttime when I arrived and the drive to the lodge took about 40 minutes. I couldn’t tell what the surrounding countryside looked like due to the extreme darkness, but I could tell that the island is very arid. When we pulled into our lodge I was pleasantly surprised by the lushness of the property. It was an amazing oasis on an otherwise dry island.

go west dive dock kura huland resort in curacao he travel gay dive trip

Check-in was a breeze, since they knew I represent a company that might send a lot more business in the future. There were a lot of “welcome Mr. Moses” and “is there anything we can do to make your stay more comfortable?” Did I mention that I love site inspections?

In the morning we hit the beach, since we really wanted a clear idea of what our clients would experience. Ever had a blue lagoon? It’s a lovely beverage made with Blue Curacao liqueur. Be careful though, they are very tricky, the buzz creeps up slowly. Here I am…and it’s just 10 am…but on vacation.

zachary moses enjoys blue lagoon cocktail at kura hulanda in curacao

To counteract our Blue Curacao beverages we figured we should get something to eat. I ordered French fries from the beach bar, and they came with peanut sauce instead of ketchup. It was an interesting change. I liked it!

The beach café was absolutely adorable, and there were lots of interesting signs posted. I especially liked this one, since I have a habit of eating random things I find.

beach cafe kura hulanda he travel gay dive tour

The cafe’s display of license plates caught me off guard. Honestly, how the hell did they come across all these license plates? Curacao doesn’t exactly have roads that connect it to other destinations.

beach cafe kura hulanda resort in curacao. he travel gay travel tour

You’d think that being from Key West, I wouldn’t care about beaches, but the beach below our lodge was my favorite spot on the entire resort. I went out of my way to grab the chairs under the palm roof. I had to fight the old Russian ladies off several times, but I stood my ground. It was so nice to just relax on a beach with a good science fiction novel.

beach at the kura hulanda resort in curacao gay travel tour

The following day, we connected up with our dive company and scheduled a trip out on the water. Their team of local guides was fantastic! They took us to the most amazing destinations … underwater caves, coral gardens, sunken ships. I even saw a live lionfish. I know lionfish are invasive, but they are pretty amazing to see in the wild.

In this picture are our captain and dive guide. The guides come from all over the world, and work seasonally. What a life!

captain and guide for the he travel deep blue dive tour in curacao go west diving

On the way back to the lodge, I got some pretty amazing views of the island. The clouds were billowing for the rainstorms that we were assured never happen here. Well they did, and they were spectacular!

view from the go west dive boat in curacao deep blue he travel gay tour

When we got back to our lodge, we toured around the grounds and discovered the sculpture garden. The statues come from all over the world. The founder of the lodge has spent his life traveling the globe collecting artifacts, and even created a museum in Willemstad, the main town on the island. We jotted this down as a must-see when we head into town.

sculpture gardedn at the kura hulanda hotel in curacao as seen on he travels deep blue gay dive tour

Our journey through the grounds led us to the premier room of the entire property: Jacob’s Tree House, named after the hotel’s founder Jacob Gelt Dekker. Jacob’s Tree House is built on stilts and entirely out of local materials. It conjures up images of Robinson Crusoe and Tarzan. The inside is immaculately decorated with native arts from around the world. We may offer a stay in this tree house as an upgrade on future dive trips.

jacobs tree house at kura hulanda resort in curacao ay dive tour he travel

View of the porch from inside the Jacob’s Tree House.

inside jacobs tree house kura hulanda resort curacao he travel gay dive tour

Our visit started off with a bang when we met up with the new food and beverage manager for the property. His name is Alfred and he and his partner live on the property, so you’ll see them regularly walking the grounds.

Alfred made us the most amazing red snapper, possibly the best fish I’ve ever eaten. We stayed up late with him, and he told us all about his amazing life and all of the places it has taken him.  He eventually decided to step back from his globe-trotting lifestyle after a run-in with some thugs in Venezuela. That was when he decided it was time to move back home to Curacao and get back to his true love of cooking.

zachary moses with alfred the food and beverage manager kura hulanda holding red snapper

After my site inspection of the lodge, I gave it the green light, and I am pleased to say that Deep Blue is back on our list of upcoming tours!

Click here to read part 2

Click here to check out our Gay Cuba Cycling – Bike Western Cuba.

Filed Under: Caribbean, Curacao, Essays, Fam Trips, FIT, Gay Multi-Sport Tour, The Gay Travel Blog, Uncategorized, Writings, Zachary Moses Tagged With: adventure, Alyson Adventures, curacao, gay, gay adventure travel, gay curacao tour, gay men, gay tour, gay tour operator, Gay Travel, gay vacation, HE Travel, hetravel, single gay men, single gay travel, travel advice, Zach Moses, Zachary Moses

About Zachary Moses

Zachary has done every job at HeTravel.com. He started in the marketing mailroom in 2010, and eventually worked his way up to serving 2 years on the board of directors for the National Tour Association and an additional two years serving as the CEO of HeTravel.com.

He ran for Governor of Utah as a Democrat in 2020, garnering international attention while running in this historically RED state.

During a 14-month long Pandemic-related forced "sabbatical," he returned to his passion of carpentry, having now restored several historic buildings. He also gave a TEDx talk in 2020 pitching an idea to save/restore the Great Salt Lake and other western saline lakes.

Zachary has returned to HE Travel, however, he is no longer the CEO and has now taken on the role of CXO or Chief Experience Officer.

Zach has been working with the company for more than a decade, and still leads tours, writes blogs, and speaks at international conferences.

© 2025 Hanns Ebensten Travel

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