It was a night to get your message heard on Saturday when 70 vessels took to the waters of Hamilton Harbour for the fourth annual Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute Christmas boat parade.

For among the sparkling displays that were draped across the ensemble of boats parading around the harbour were a number of vessels that were definitely trying to get their individual messages across.

The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club was obviously trying to tell Cablevision something with its entry into the colourful competition, which had 'Occasionally Cable' emblazoned all along the side.

Underneath the controversial banner was a fuzzy television screen, which captured applause and cheers from the thousands of spectators lining Front Street and Pitts Bay Road to view the event.

In a bid to help stave off the recession for the Island's retailers, Michael Carey, with his powerboat Clevelander, depicted a huge shopping bag made out of Christmas lights with the words Buy BDA on the side.

Christ Church in Warwick with their entry, designed by Ron Campbell, featured a white dove and the message Give Us Peace.

Another entry opted for the message 'Terrorism Will Always Fail'.

Also included among the entrants were the more traditional nativity scenes, Santa Clauses, angels, snowmen and Christmas trees.

Other eye-catching entries included a delicate, multi-coloured butterfly, the Star of David, and a fish inside a Christmas stocking.

One of the organisers, Ian Coles, said the event had been a resounding success with more spectators and entries than ever before.

He said: "This was the biggest parade yet with 70 boats participating, and I think the standard of creativity from boat owners gets higher every year.

"The parade went off magnificently, thanks to our parade marshall Jim Butterfield and dockmaster for the event Tom Whayman.

"We are particularly grateful to the many spectator boats that followed our requests to stay anchored and clear of the course during the parade. I think there was between 300 and 400 of them."

The only mishap of the night was one of the men on board one of the entries accidentally went overboard.

But Mr. Coles said his team mates were very quick to pull him back out of the water and nobody was hurt.

He added: "It was our first man overboard, but they retrieved him very quickly. It goes to show that you have to be very careful at night, especially with all of these boats around."

Best boat overall was voted to be the 28ft powerboat Happy Hooker, owned by Clive Hook, who transformed his boat into a very realistic and colourful biplane.

Other big winners were John Carr's Nomad, which had been decked out in the Nutcracker theme and was complete with both live and model toy soldiers, Christ Church in Warwick, and the French Moulin Rouge, which was complete with animated kicking legs, on Matthew Cairney's sail boat Bermuda Oyster.

Best commercial boat was Dolphin Quest's illuminated turtle, and best powerboat under 30ft was Sylvester, which featured an alligator, which opened and closed its mouth to reveal enormous gnashers..

The winner of the best powerboat above 30ft was last year's overall winner, Pipe Dream.

Most creative boat was Grand Slammer, owned by Ed Sousa, who had a dough boy on board.

The Cox family's Shearwater, a perennial winner in past years, won again this year in the award for the best use of lights and animation, again with a turtle theme.

And the best commercial fishing boat was Knockdown, owned by Steven Rance.

The sponsors of this year's event were XL Insurance, Cable and Wireless, Friesenbruch-Meyer, American Airlines, Bacardi, Mailboxes, and the Ministry for Development and Opportunity