(6/22/2005) Nekton Rorqual crewman dies

[tedwhiteva]

Ted, where did your info come from?

Coast Guard search and rescue file

 

[Pam_In_Paradise]

My name is Pam and am only responding because of the gross misinformation being put forth by some "news" sources, some of which are being quoted here.

D.J. Pottorf was a long tenured employee of Nekton Diving Cruises. He has held many positions on our boats, the most recent as engineer. He was working as the ship's engineer on our vessel, the Nekton Rorqual, which had left Fort Lauderdale on Saturday night, June 18th for our Cay Lobos itinerary. On Monday evening at approximately 5:30 p.m., the Rorqual was moored at Orange Cay in the Bahamas and D.J. was ending his work day. He decided to cool off by getting in the water. D.J. was an avid free diver and chose to work on extending his breath holding time. He was recovered from the water approximately 15 minutes after he entered. CPR and all other resuscitation methods were attempted. He was even worked on by another member of our crew that happens to be a licensed medical doctor. During the one hour resuscitation attempts, the crew was in contact with the US Coast Guard attempting to get evacuation for D.J. The Coast Guard declined to attempt to evacuate him because it was obvious by that point that he was gone. The resuscitation was unsucessful and the medical doctor pronounced him dead. The Rorqual immediately left to return to Fort Lauderdale. Please remember that our boats are stabile but certainly not fast. During the transit time everyone in the office was working to notify his wife, his family and to get them here from the Chicago area. We were also in contact with people in law enforcement and in the Coast Guard and they were all aware of our estimated time of arrival. They met the boat at the dock and took possession of D.J.'s body as is proper. He was taken to the medical examiner's for an autopsy as is required in all cases such as this. I hope this clears up some of the misinformation that is out there. We were not contacted by any news organization other than the Miami Herald for comment and they were issued a written statement of the facts. We at Nekton are going to miss D.J. very much. He was our friend as well as our employee. He left behind a wife and a 4 year old son. We ask that you keep them as well as our crew that is suffering so much right now in your thoughts and prayers.

 

[Dee]

Please pass along my sincere condolences to D.J.'s family and friends.

 

[cptmjd]

Just got off the phone with the Captain of the Nekton Rorqual, he (David) was in St. Thomas at the time of the accident and has just returned to Ft. Lauderdale. He was notified of the accident on thursday and will be meeting with his crew on Saturday. Said he'd phone once he had all of the details clear. Meanwhile his thoughts, prayers and concerns are for D.J.'s family.

 

[ScubaLuke]

My name is Pam and am only responding because of the gross misinformation being put forth by some "news" sources, some of which are being quoted here....

Thanks for clearing that up Pam. We should have known that the only thing mysterious is how CDNN comes up with its information.
Luke

 

[mcm007]

I am glad that this comes from NEKTON.
My condolences, this is a terrible time.

NEKTON has been good to me, and I look forward to seeing you again in October.

Regards,

MM

My name is Pam and am only responding because of the gross misinformation being put forth by some "news" sources, some of which are being quoted here.

D.J. Pottorf was a long tenured employee of Nekton Diving Cruises. He has held many positions on our boats, the most recent as engineer. He was working as the ship's engineer on our vessel, the Nekton Rorqual, which had left Fort Lauderdale on Saturday night, June 18th for our Cay Lobos itinerary. On Monday evening at approximately 5:30 p.m., the Rorqual was moored at Orange Cay in the Bahamas and D.J. was ending his work day. He decided to cool off by getting in the water. D.J. was an avid free diver and chose to work on extending his breath holding time. He was recovered from the water approximately 15 minutes after he entered. CPR and all other resuscitation methods were attempted. He was even worked on by another member of our crew that happens to be a licensed medical doctor. During the one hour resuscitation attempts, the crew was in contact with the US Coast Guard attempting to get evacuation for D.J. The Coast Guard declined to attempt to evacuate him because it was obvious by that point that he was gone. The resuscitation was unsucessful and the medical doctor pronounced him dead. The Rorqual immediately left to return to Fort Lauderdale. Please remember that our boats are stabile but certainly not fast. During the transit time everyone in the office was working to notify his wife, his family and to get them here from the Chicago area. We were also in contact with people in law enforcement and in the Coast Guard and they were all aware of our estimated time of arrival. They met the boat at the dock and took possession of D.J.'s body as is proper. He was taken to the medical examiner's for an autopsy as is required in all cases such as this. I hope this clears up some of the misinformation that is out there. We were not contacted by any news organization other than the Miami Herald for comment and they were issued a written statement of the facts. We at Nekton are going to miss D.J. very much. He was our friend as well as our employee. He left behind a wife and a 4 year old son. We ask that you keep them as well as our crew that is suffering so much right now in your thoughts and prayers.

 

[reeldive]

My wife and I had the privilege to dive with DJ on Hog Sty Reef the week before this accident. He was a veteran Navy diver and ,I believe a PADI cert Dive Master, and a freediver. We and every one else that knew him mourn his passing. We were on an expeditionary charter aboard the Cachalot. He transferred to the Rorqual when we arrived in port.We heard of this from the Nekton staff later. We had booked a trip with the Rorqual for Sep and learned the real story from the crew. They took it hard. Just uploaded a pic of the turtle he guided me to only three days earlier.
One night while watching a sunset at Hog Sty we were speculating about what kind of marine creature we would like to be if re-incarnated. His choice was a turtle.
He died doing what he loved

God bless him