Remoak and others talking about this incident have little if nothing to offer this discussion unless you have experience on this type of aircraft in this type of operation. Much like someone talking about Airline operations without the prerequisite knowledge and experience.
I can comment on the Cessna T206 Stationaire on floats, having some experience in open sea tropical seaplane services myself but I don't want to start a pi##ing match either. Suffice to say, it's a limited performance seaplane which I consider one of the most valuable types to gain experience on and one which teaches many pilots lessons like this on a regular basis. They get pranged and banged up a lot on floats and for good reason the sea is very unforgiving and the harshest environment to operate an aircraft on.
It's so rough that if you don't have the horsepower to get out of it at a the slowest possible speed then the airframe and floats will break at some stage. Engine failure is rarer and I hope the pilot and the operator learn the most from this costly experience. When to draw the line with this aircraft is hard to know and I admire people's willingness to operate them as seaplanes despite the higher costs and risks.
I've had the worst take off in my life in a Cessna Caravan and badly bent the firewall as a result, it was a close call and nobody was hurt but I've learnt a great deal from it. I've got not doubt in my mind about the limitations this aircraft has but you won't find this written anywhere.... it's only through operational experience some knowledge is gained.