On Wed, 16 Apr 2008 02:19:26 +1000, Herodotus
wrote:

I was planning to leave Curacao today bound for Panama and have only
just found out that there is at least an 8 week delay for transiting
the canal.

I'm told that if you use a canal agent the delay can sometimes be
reduced to days. Apparently they reserve slots in advance ($$$). I
know of several trawlers that have gone through recently with minimal
delays.