What was good for the surfers was bad for business.

Forecasters said the heart of Hurricane Earl was not likely to made landfall, remaining about 100 miles offshore and dealing Cape Hatteras a glancing blow before moving north, perhaps strafing Cape Cod and the Maine shoreline on Friday night and Saturday. Still, experts warned that it could buffet the coast with destructive winds and currents, generating large waves and hazardous riptides and forcing vacationers away from the ocean in the last week of summer break.

Ferries leaving Ocracoke Island on the Outer Banks, with a population of 800 and 5,000 visitors, were packed, and innkeepers wondered if they, too, would have to evacuate.

“We were full and we were planning on a nice weekend for Labor Day, but obviously, that’s not going to happen,” said George Chamberlin, the owner of Captain’s Landing, a small inn on the harbor. “It’s too bad we have to have these interruptions, but it’s just part of the cost of living on the East Coast.”

The surfers had their share of disappointment, too. Around 3:30, a whole new crop of them materialized, breaking out into eager jogs as they came in view of the water. Austin Nichols, 30, an actor on “One Tree Hill,” which is taped in Wilmington, said he had shot a scene in the morning but had gotten off in time to get some surfing in.