Thanks, Judyann and Phil!
Actually, this is our "off" day since the flight will only be an hour, and thus much shorter than any of our other daily plans (we're diving two days mornings, and then taking a sail to Caye Caulker)- so it's definitely the best of our options to do on Independence Day. We're staying north of the bridge at Cocotal so I don't anticipate a ton of late nights- which means relatively early mornings will be fine. We might come for some of the Block Party the night before (thanks for the heads up!) but we'll be taking the water taxi home and thus won't want to make it terribly late!
It sounds like we could book a 10 or 11am flight, have a good breakfast in town (need the "base layer" before we start drinking!), and then find a good spot once we get back before things really get rolling. Does that make sense?