Om vs. arrr! Fells Point wellness studio has had enough of the pirates next door

The lights were low and the mood was right for Alex Spiroff’s first sound bath.

The $32 immersive meditative experience involves participants lying on the floor as they are bathed in a cloud of sound. The instructor at The Sedona House, the Fells Point wellness studio where Spiroff took the class, warned that it could be so relaxing that some people fall asleep.

That didn’t happen for Spiroff, though — on account of the pirates.

“I was trying to find my om, and all I could hear was ‘arrr,’” she recalled.

That arrr was coming from the Urban Pirates, a staple Fells Point business that has been offering pirate boat rides to the young and thirsty for the last two decades. The company’s signature pirate ship, equipped with water cannons and a sound system, docks on South Ann Street, just feet from Sedona House’s door.

A vibe clash between the two businesses has been quietly simmering for months. The owners of Sedona House have lobbied for the pirates to walk the plank to another location, perhaps the busier Broadway Pier. The pirates say other piers aren’t accessible. Besides, they argued, they planted their Jolly Roger flag first.

“We’ve been there for 19 years,” said Cara Joyce, owner of the Urban Pirates. “The city put us there.”

On Wednesday, both will appear before the city’s spending board for a showdown. The board will consider a new three-year lease for the buccaneers. The deal can be extended until 2034.

Casey Jones, co-owner of the wellness studio, has been pushing for months to get the Urban Pirates to move. The studio, which he and his wife opened in 2024, is situated at the dead end of Ann Street, a single lane hugging the water and paved in Belgian block. It’s one of the quieter spots in the otherwise bustling dining and nightlife district, Jones argued — a perfect place for meditation, not a pirate hideaway.

Young buccaneers have been disruptive to the studio’s clients, Jones said. Groups of children queue outside the business, often herded closer by parents seeking shade and some distance from the water’s edge. Classes have been interrupted by the tap tap tap of tiny plastic swords on the studio’s window. Once, a young marauder loudly toyed with the metal flap covering the studio’s mail slot.

“They make it a party, and sometimes that party taps on my windows during class,” Jones said.

There are louder noises once patrons are aboard, Jones argued. The boat’s staff make announcements, young participants squeal and older revelers, often imbibing, get rowdy. Once there was a drum kit aboard the ship, he said.

In a formal protest letter written to the city board, Jones argued that attendance at classes falls 70% during the pirates’ operating hours. He also discovered that the pirates operated in 2025 after their lease expired, a situation the boat’s owners said was due to the abrupt departure of a city employee. The pirates said they have already made the city whole for that period.

Still, Jones insisted that he respects the right of the pirates to dock in Fells Point. He just wants them to do it two blocks away on Broadway Pier.

“They bring peace and mindfulness to people in a different way than we do, but both businesses have the right to operate,” he said.

The pirates see it differently.

Even if they wanted to move, it’s not an option, Joyce said. Broadway Pier has a different construction than the dock along Ann Street. The boat’s ramp for disability access isn’t long enough to span the gap to the dock, making the cruises inaccessible, she said.

Jones has alternatively suggested the boat dock farther north on Ann Street, closer to the intersection with Thames Street. But the water there is too shallow, Joyce said.

Joyce argued that the pirates, who attract 30,000 to 40,000 buccaneers a year, are actually a boost for other Fells Point businesses. She submitted to the city letters of support from numerous nearby businesses, including most of their South Ann Street neighbors.

The city has noise ordinances, she acknowledged, but it’s unreasonable to expect total quiet in Fells Point. Yards away, bar crowds spill onto Thames Street. Live music from Cat’s Eye Pub fills the night air. Joyce said the business owners she has talked to are supportive.

“It’s not springtime in Fells Point until I hear ‘arrr,’” Joyce said someone recently told her.

If approved by the city spending board, the pirates’ lair will remain on Ann Street.

Spiroff said the commotion won’t stop her from taking classes at the studio. The pirates are just one of several sounds in Fells Point, she said. There are passing cars, people and Foxtrot, the Baltimore Police helicopter, overhead.

“It is a city,” she said.