One day we ran to Green Turtle Cay for a casual lobster salad lunch on the patio of the Green Turtle Club.

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Though seeing a newborn turtle make its way to the ocean is unlikely ('They mostly hatch at night, ' says Pakdin), swimmers may see a full-grown green turtle travel across the seabed.

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The latter is a wonderful pick, visible through the trees as you make the short hike over a pine-needle-carpeted trail, edged by a tiny sandy beach (many of the ponds have no beach to speak of), and home to a bevy of quick-footed green frogs and one remarkably tame snapping turtle.

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Combined with the bright green foam on his palms, it gave him a distinct cartoon-turtle look.

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But Bay is essentially erasing almost 30 years of love for transmogrified adolescent reptile ninjas by claiming each turtle is less of a fearsome, fighting toxic anomaly and more of a forest green E.

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