Announcing Our Photo Contest Winners

FROM THE GENERAL MANAGER

Announcing Our Photo Contest Winners

By Steve Cockrell, Posted 1/16/2018

This year’s winners of the Waterfall Resort Photography Contest showcase the splendors of our setting on Prince of Wales Island—from the spectacular golden sunsets to those wild critters of the sea and sky.

Stephen Benavides of Irvine, California, scored top honors in the contest’s “Wildlife & Nature” category with Master Angler, his stunning portrait of one of Southeast Alaska’s emblematic bald eagles in flight. Longtime guest Fritz Westerhout of Newport Beach, California, won the “Resort” category with the aptly named Waterfall Resort Alaska, his view of the docks from our boardwalk at sundown. And Ronald B. Hall of San Diego, California, won the “Fishing” category with Lingcod as Big as Tee, a shot of a hefty lingcod with as big a backstory....

Hall and his wife, Teresa, better known as “Tee,” have been coming to Waterfall for many years. The couple had to cancel their 2016 trip at the last minute when Tee was diagnosed with cancer and scheduled for immediate surgery. But rescheduling their trip for this past summer turned out to be a morale booster—and a victory lap.

Tee’s 40-pound lingcod (one of two behemoths she reeled in that day), landed her applause and a derby patch in the Dining Room that night. “She labored to land that fish,” notes Ronald proudly. “She gutted it out and hauled the thing up herself!”