Tiger 35 - Have to disagree, im not one who condones breaking rules, in particulars minimas, however to throw down a blanket response such as yours is a big call. Never ever break minimums? If you were caught in a situation and had to choose between a cat III landing in an approved a/c at a non approved airport or ditching would you still not break the cat I DA? Hypothetical and not apllicable to NLK but clearly a situation where breaking the minima is the safer option.
In saying this, have had exp at NLK in the past and it is not a place i would be willing to bust the minimas in blind hope. Each threshold has a steep hill/cliff immediately before it and at the minima the approach spits you out at quite a large angle to the runway requiring a fairly sharp and immediate turn onto RWY HDG (this is often exagerated by unfavourable and strong crosswinds. Any mistakes in the rate of turn or your calculations of the 3 degree profile would be disastorous at best .
As far as trying to duck under and climb up to the threshold...that is definately placing you life (and your PAX's) in the lap of the gods. The elev is about 370', ducking under would involve scud running under cloud at 200', at night, towards a steep cliff with no hope of seeing the RWY lights from your position below the cliffs. If it was this or ditching...id take the water.
As far as places to push your luck, NLK would be one of the worst around.
Fantastic that everone survived and congrats to the careflight crew.