I think I may have resolved in my mind the issue of the Catcha day pass. My wife and I stayed at Catcha several years in a row after Hurricane Ivan. It was small, quiet and private. They were still planting the small Croton bushes, vines and other plantings that provide the lush landscape of today. But the rates also grew to the point that it was no longer the affordable place we knew. One day I ran into Susan, the manager and later owner, and lamented about the steep rate increases. She asked if we had seen "the gardens". Later that day she walked us up to what was then Catcha Falling Star Gardens and gave us a tour. Part of her pitch was that we could get day passes for ocean access at Catcha. Even after she and Bill sold the gardens and it became LTU Gardens we were still able to get day passes. Maybe this was because we always went in August to avoid the crowds and Catcha had very low occupancy then. However, all that changed after Catcha bought the multistory building next door and added many more rooms to inventory, straining their cliff side availability for guests. Who knows? Maybe we were the only ones ever to get that deal.
BTW...Ivan's is open to the public for dinner after 5 pm. Sometimes we still walk down for drinks, sunset and dinner on the cliffs. Then back to LTU for after dinner drinks with our friends there.