DUE TO A LOW OVCST; THE PLT OF A SCHEDULED PAX SMT FLOAT PLANE HAD TO STEP-TAXI AND LAND REPEATEDLY UNTIL ABLE TO FLY HIGHER THAN 300 FT ABOVE THE LAKE IN WHICH HE WAS DEPARTING.

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BEFORE TKOF I DETERMINED I HAD 3 MI VISIBILITY. CEILING WAS UNDETERMINABLE IN RAIN AND MIST. I STEP-TAXIED A MI OR SO UNTIL I COULD SEE WHAT LOOKED LIKE A 500 FT CEILING AND TOOK OFF ON THE WATER. ON CLB I DECIDED IT WOULD BE BETTER TO TURN A SHARP CORNER SLOW; SO I LANDED AGAIN; STEP-TAXIED AROUND THE CORNER; SAW THE SAME CEILING AND TOOK OFF AGAIN. I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT WAS AROUND THE CORNER AND I DIDN'T WANT TO BE TRAPPED WITH NOTHING BUT GRAY WATER AND GRAY SKY; NO LAND REF. THAT LNDG WAS A SAFETY PRECAUTION. ONCE I SAW 3 MI VISIBILITY AROUND THE CORNER AND THE SAME (UNKNOWN) CEILING; I THOUGHT I COULD GET 500 FT; SO I STARTED MY CLB. DURING MY CLB; I PICKED UP A TAILWIND AND THE WATER BELOW BECAME TOO ROUGH TO LAND ON WITHOUT HAZARD. TO LAND INTO THE WIND I WOULD HAVE HAD TO TURN OUT OVER A GRAY LAKE IN MISTY RAIN WITHOUT REFS TO LAND -- A VERY UNSAFE SIT. I GOT TO 300 FT AND CONTINUED MY FLT LOOKING FOR A PLACE TO LAND; A SAFE PLACE; WITH FLAPS PARTIALLY DOWN. I ALWAYS HAD AT LEAST 3 MI VISIBILITY AND MY DEST WAS RPTING (ATIS) 2200 FT CEILING AND 8 MI VISIBILITY. THE SAFEST THING FOR ME TO DO WAS CONTINUE AT 300 FT UNTIL THE CEILING CAME UP.