Unfortunately, no. They could not look out the window because it was dark and they were in the middle of a storm. I doubt the sky looked much different IN the clouds as opposed to 10 ft above the ocean. Presumably, it would also be too dark and stormy to see the ocean even if they were right above it.

To understand why the answer to the rest of your questions is also "no", you have to understand the psychology of vertigo in situations like this (http://www.studentpilot.com/articles/medical_articles/articl...).