I was going to recommend the same as 'woodenshoes' above, the Panasonic ZS60 or its replacement, the ZS70 that is coming out soon...

If you can live without the zoom find yourself a Ricoh GR/GR II, wonderful IQ and a nice small form factor.

Happy Shooting!

There are some pretty crappy armored cameras out there, I am very happy with my Panasonic TS2 (now replaced by the TS30). The kids use it in the pool every summer and last week my niece had it in the fraser river. She didn't capture any fish tho.
It fits in a shirt pocket and can take a beating. A couple SD cards and spare batteries and you are good for at least a week. These have come way down in price.

For less abuse: I've been eyeing up the Nikon P900. I think it is the best value in its class.

Thanks for all the replies. Looks like I've got some research to do. My main concern is small, lightweight and good quality. I was hoping for at least a 20x zoom. I will have to see what I can buy and sneak past my wife without her knowing.

Good luck with that

I really like my Sony WX350. Very small and light and great photos. Current version is the new and improved WX500.

If you'd like to buy the really good camera you can try Sony A7R. I used this camera about year and it's a pretty awesome.

The Canon PowerShot G10 was a good camera. Not sure what the most recent version is (as that's a 10 year old model). But the superzoom handhelds can be quite good. I've notice a reduction in build quality though, even while capability has improved.

e.g. Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS50 is about as rugged as a freshly laid egg.