By Stephen Thompson

9:09 a.m., St. Pete Beach
Here on Pass-a-Grille Beach, at the southernmost tip of Pinellas County, the setting is serene.

Tiny waves leisurely lap ashore under an overcast sky. There was a slight drizzle. Even the seagulls aren’t doing much of anything, standing on the beach instead of flying.

The only people out are a handful of morning strollers, walking alone or in pairs, hundreds of yards apart from one another.

One English woman with a work visa declines to give her name.

“Well, it’s not usually overcast like this when you wake up in the morning,” she says. She looks around. “It does look pretty dull.”

Norma Dilernia, 61, a tourist from Buenos Aires walking with her husband, is equally unfazed over Ernesto’s meager impact on her walk.

“It’s just like another cloudy day,” she says.