damn i missed it! spent the winter of 06 - 07 in northport, familiarizing myself with the area, for eventual relocation. when i was about 4 - 6 yrs old, a similar situation occured here in n.j.(sea bright), while we were beach brats. i can recall watching the tide retreat much quicker than normal, seeing the bottom much further out, then turning away for some reason, hearing some people shouting, then 2 maybe 3 feet of ocean rapidly filling in the void and proceeding up the beach. that was about 45 years ago, to this day it still intrigues and "haunts" me!