The people that first crossed the Bering Strait were anatomically modern humans, and certainly had reasonable boating technology. Since the article is talking a

The people that first crossed the Bering Strait were anatomically modern humans, and certainly had reasonable boating technology. Since the article is talking about 900kya, though, it's talking about Homo erectus (taxonomic splitters may use a different name). But nevertheless, in Southeast Asia, Homo erectus is known to have crossed the Lombok Strait by 800kya, as well as reaching Luzon by 700k; both of these would have required crossing substantial bodies of water.