Not defending stupidity but.... sometimes the visibility in summer on the East Coast isn't even 2 miles and just because you can see land that doesn't mean you know what land you are seeing. It all looks alike from a distance unless you can see landmarks (and have a chart with which to correlate the landmarks)

But they should at least have had a clue about any bridges they might have passed under....

Just a $100 GPS could have helped a lot. Maybe next time?