Shuttle boats are busy from 6 a.m. to midnight carrying visitors to and from cruise ships. Many tourists have been rerouted to the island from destinations in flu-plagued Mexico. (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)
Cruise ship shoppers get a discount in downtown Avalon, where business was down 18% in February and March, according to officials there. (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)
A performance along Crescent Avenue in downtown Avalon welcomes visitors and gives them a taste of a Mexican vacation. (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)
Odette Lackey was supposed to be in Ensenada, Mexico, but her ship was rerouted to Catalina, where she spends some time enjoying the harbor view in Avalon. (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)
Jason Burkhart, left, had planned on having his bachelor party in Ensenada. Instead, the group of guys drinks Mexican beer in Luau Larry’s bar in Avalon. (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)
The docks are loaded with cruise ship passengers as they line up for the return trip to their ship. (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)
Tourists are taken ashore on a shuttle boat. Its too bad it had to happen because of a nasty bug. But were enjoying an unexpected windfall,” one Avalon business owner said. (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)
