It’s Photo Friday… travel cameras?

Jamaica is well known for its beautiful beaches with many tourists photographing beautiful sunsets along with frolicking in the surf and white sand pics. I observed a pair of teenage girls spending at least 3 hours posing and taking pictures with their phone of themselves in their little bikinis as though they were Sports Illustrated swimsuit models. On a morning walk along the shore I looked to the left and discovered that I had found a nude beach of primarily senior citizens. Hmmm… I decided that was NOT a photographic opportunity, but it certainly was an eye opening experience! Oh, to be so comfortable in your own skin.
I was trying out a used (but new to me) point and shoot camera, but was disappointed in the features not available (like RAW only in low ISO’s, focus was so-o-o-o frustratingly slow, settings were buried so deep into the menu and slow to access). We have been searching and analyzing on the internet and comparing models vs. price.
My question is: What is the best, yet small travel camera for photographers who like to manually control settings and have fast, spot focus? Any thoughts out there???