Can't you get live blue crab in joisey? That would be my source. Steam em and pick em.

Got to restrain yourself from eaten as your pickin though.
yes, but they're kinda small. it's almost impossible not to eat as much as you pick because it takes so long. besides, i don't trust the water anywhere within a hundred miles or more of ny harbor. at that distance, you might as well just keep going to del-mar-va for the good stuff.
actually, my best days of crabbing were in bradenton, fl.., just inland from anna maria island. they were so good and meaty.
gg, i've never heard anyone differentiate chesapeake crabs from maryland ones?
from the way you mentioned it, i'm guessing the chesapeake ones are sweeter, or bigger, or both?