Tropical Storm Hermine’s trip up the East Coast is expected to bring only light rain to Massachusetts, but the tempest caused some Labor Day travelers to hastily rearrange plans Saturday, while coastal residents braced for high winds and rip currents.

Hermine will continue up the coast, then head out to sea over the coming days, with its strongest effects in the state in the southeast and on Cape Cod and the islands, said Bill Simpson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

The storm could bring wind gusts of up to 50 miles per hour to Nantucket on Sunday, Simpson said, along with rip currents that will make the ocean too dangerous for swimming or other water activities.

“That is the big issue on a holiday weekend, and hopefully people have enough warning,’’ Simpson said. “It’s going to be tempting, but go look at the waves and stay out of the water.’’

The coming storm curtailed some forms of transportation on one of the year’s busiest weekends for travel.

As shutdowns loomed, ferries from Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard carried a higher than usual volume of passengers Saturday.

Hy-Line Cruises, which operates between Hyannis and the islands, canceled all Sunday and Monday trips to Martha’s Vineyard and between the islands but planned to keep Nantucket ferries operating as long as possible, said Patrick Conklin, the company’s operations manager.

Hy-Line was “very busy’’ Saturday, Conklin said.

The Steamship Authority might have to suspend ferry service to Nantucket, beginning late Sunday afternoon, and to Martha’s Vineyard later in the day, according to its website. It advised customers to check for updates.

Amtrak shortened routes between Boston and Virginia and suspended service across the Southeast, where the storm has caused two deaths, damaged homes and businesses, and left hundreds of thousands without power since making landfall Friday as a Category 1 hurricane.

On Saturday, tropical storm warnings were in effect as far north as Connecticut, and governors up and down the coast announced emergency preparations. But only a tropical storm watch was issued for coastal Rhode Island through Cape Cod and the islands, and the storm was predicted to veer offshore before reaching Massachusetts.

“We’re dodging the bullet,’’ Simpson, the meteorologist, said.

A spokesman for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency said the State Emergency Operations Center was closely monitoring the storm and was in regular contact with the weather service.

Despite challenges in reaching their destinations, few tourists canceled reservations on the Cape and islands as the hotels prepared for the storm.

Sonny Patel, a front desk clerk at the Cape Cod Inn in Hyannis, said no guests had canceled bookings. The same was true at the Inn at Cape Cod in Yarmouth Port, co-owner Helen Cassels reported.

“It’s too soon to start putting notices around, which is what we do when we know for sure what’s going to happen,’’ she said. “You do what you can ahead of time, but try not to overreact.’’

The Chatham Bars Inn was fully booked for Saturday night, said Jennifer Parks, the front desk manager.

“It’s actually been pretty normal,’’ Parks said. “We’ll see what happens tomorrow, but right now everything’s looking good.’’

John Francis, working at the front desk of the Provincetown Inn, said, “We’ve had a few inquiries, but nobody has actually canceled.’’

At the Martha Vineyard’s Resort in Oak Bluffs, manager Claudette Robinson said guests kept their reservations.

“The people who are coming are already here,’’ Robinson said. “Now, what are we going to do if people can’t leave? We’ll have to accommodate them.’’

At the Harborview Nantucket, a beachfront resort on Nantucket Harbor, the only cancellation came from a pregnant woman nearing her delivery date, said Allison Levy, the resort’s manager.

Some guests postponed arrivals, but also departures, she said, while others extended reservations to await calmer waters.

“I think it’s caused some concern,’’ Levy said of the storm, “but people are going for it anyway.’’

As the storm approached, Levy said, the Harborview’s staff took down flags and brought beach furniture inside, and sandbags lay at the ready in case of extreme tides.

Gary Kohner, owner of Nantucket Island Surf School, said he was preparing to stow surfboards in his garage and didn’t expect to give lessons Sunday and possibly Monday.

But the Sunday before Labor Day is typically the last busy day of the season, he said, as most tourists leave the island on the holiday.

“We won’t end on a super-busy note, but our season is rapidly winding down anyway,’’ Kohner said.

Farther up the coast, the surfing prospects looked better.

“Everyone has got their fingers crossed,’’ said Tyler McGill, owner of the Summer Sessions Surf Shop in Rye, N.H. “Surfers are a small minority of people who are always rooting for hurricanes and tropical storms.’’

The storm will probably bring no significant coastal flooding and only minor beach erosion, Simpson said, but winds of 40 to 50 miles per hour might bring down trees and cause power outages.

The danger of trees and branches coming down is greater because of the state’s prolonged drought conditions.

“The trees have been stressed because of the lack of rainfall, so they might be vulnerable,’’ he said.

The dearth of moisture makes branches more brittle, said Jack Kelly, a manager with Bartlett Tree Experts, which has several Massachusetts offices.

Regularly pruned trees are unlikely to have issues, Kelly said, but with untended trees, “dead branches up there could definitely be susceptible to coming down.’’

Winds will probably begin rising Sunday morning on the south coast of the state, Simpson said, followed by rain midday. In Greater Boston, rain should begin in the early evening, but little accumulation is expected, despite the region’s urgent need for precipitation to offset the widespread effects of the drought.

“Maybe we’re looking at a half-inch of rain,’’ Simpson said. “Maybe up to 1 to 2 across the Cape and Islands. . . . The vast majority of the rain will stay offshore.’’

Rain will be minimal west of Boston, he said, but rip currents and high winds could persist through Monday and into Tuesday, before the storm moves east across the Atlantic and high temperatures climb back toward 80 degrees by mid-week.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report. Jeremy C. Fox can be reached at jeremy.fox@globe.com. Nicole Fleming can be reached at nicole.fleming@globe.com.