TheBenStarr

We are just off the Breakaway and booked a snorkeling tour with Splash Dive Center, which is highly rated with the local guides.  They told us to book the 9am water taxi to Placencia, returning on the 3:30pm.  The ship runs on "Ship Time" which, during our visit, was an hour ahead of local time in Placencia.  The main excursion desk on the ship did not want to sell us tickets on the water taxi, but our concierge in The Haven was happy to do it.  He booked us on the 10:00am (which the Placencia folks refer to as the 9am), and the "last" ferry at 3:15pm (or 2:15 local time).  There is always a 3:30 ferry, but they don't sell tickets on it because they want you to be at the pier by 3:15 to make sure you don't miss the LAST ferry at 3:30.  $20 round trip per person.

All the local tour operators know the ferry captain and communicate with him directly regarding the schedule for the day.  They assured us over and over that they'd get us back before the last ferry.

The first ferry departed with every single seat full.  They were still selling some tickets when we got to the Harvest Caye marina, but it's probaby worth trying to get your tickets as early on the cruise as possible.  If one shore excursion person won't sell it to you, try another one later.  Don't get bogged down with the times of the ferries, just be sure you book on the first ferry, and you'll automatically be booked on the "last" one, which isn't really the last one.

I booked a Silk Cayes excursion for $120pp including lunch (no booze).  We got off the water taxi and directly onto the Splash Dive Center boat at the same pier, along with a few other NCL guests, plus some folks who had taken the ferry and decided at the last minute to tag along with us, as well as a few local tourists who were staying in Placencia.  We headed out across choppy water for Silk Cayes (45-60 minutes), but stopped after about 20 minutes and the guide said we were going to change to Laughing Bird Caye, which was closer and would have us in the water for longer.  (I wanted to go there in the first place, so I was happy about the change, and everyone else seemed okay with it.)

We did an initial snorkel, which was pretty great (though the snorkeling on Roatan was exceedingly better), and then had a delicious lunch.  Everyone else went back into the water for a second snorkel, but my goal was to hang out on a deserted island, so I hung up the hammock I had brought and spent that hour relaxing and watching the pelicans dive into the water.  When the rest of the group joined us, they said that I'd had the right idea, as the second snorkel was about the same as the first, but some quality beach time on this rare, remote, deserted caye was priceless.

We got a little antsy waiting for the boat to return with the portion of the group who were diving, and they were late.  When they finally arrived, our guide was arguing with the boat captain, who was trying to explain that he was having engine trouble.  Everyone was nervous that we wouldn't get back in time, until a speedboat pulled up alongside us, we all transferred to the speed boat, and were treated to a thrilling, bumpy, wet ride back into Placencia, where we had a good 20 minutes to drink some rum punch before the last 3:30 ferry returned us to Harvest Caye.  (And we were only charged $95 per person, rather than $120, which is the cost of the Laughing Bird Caye trip.)

These companies would go broke if they weren't getting cruise ship passengers back to the pier on time for the ferry.  So if you're booking with a mainstream company, don't be scared.  Get the heck off of Disneyland-like Harvest Caye with its muddy water and artificially-created, coarse-sand beach, and get yourself to paradise for the afternoon!