The Bahamas Weekly founders, David Mackey and Robbin Whachell on location at a Bahamas International Film Festival event, of which they are media sponsors. Photo by Ina Simmons

The website started in 2006 was an expansion of Mackey's Grand Bahama based website and the weekly newsletter started by Whachell in 2003. Since that time "TheBahamasWeekly had striven to provide the latest in news, sports, entertainment, arts and culture, community, celebrity sightings, and specializes in video events coverage."

Commenting on the celebration Mackey said, "TheBahamasWeekly.com, from the onset, was established as a medium for positive news about The Bahamas; we are a supplement to the established media, providing other sides of the story. Seventeen thousand-five hundred articles later, we have been afforded the great privilege to continue on in our journey, notwithstanding the attempts of detractors who at one point almost succeeded at removing us off the Internet.

"Now, five years later, with Robbin Whachell no longer residing in The Bahamas, TheBahamasWeekly.com continues to attract advertising revenue and attain top placement in all major search engines."

Whachell, who resided on Grand Bahama from 1998 moved back to Canada earlier this year, but said that technology has allowed her to remain connected to the website.

"Well I never thought I'd be living in The Bahamas, and I never thought I'd be promoting The Bahamas the way that I have and am. Social media has allowed me to feel as if I have not left and it keeps people in the know that I am still on it with my business of promoting The Bahamas," she said.

She added, "working virtually allows me to do most of my work by sitting in front of my computer (in my pajamas if I want), even in Canada. Our business is not restricted or constricted by normal 'work hours,' traffic, etc. etc., and with the three-hour time difference on the west coast we are even more productive because collectively our staff now has a longer workday. We can also travel and not miss a beat... the website keeps on moving, digesting and growing, no matter where we are."

In addition to delivering news, TheBahamasWeekly is also a major contributor to many projects in Grand Bahama and The Bahamas and have sponsor of events such as Miss Grand Bahama Pageant, the Bahamas International Film Festival (BIFF), Islands of the World Fashion Week (IWFW), the Red Rose Ball, Supermodel of The Bahamas, the Heart Foundation Ball, Theodore Elyett's Miss Teen Bahamas Pageant, Miss Grand Bahama Pageant, Rotary groups, the YMCA, the Salvation Army, BASRA, and others and on Monday October 24, Whachell was honored with the Visionary Award for business excellence at the Visionary Business Leaders and Entrepreneurs Awards Conference.

From humble beginnings of the duo, the website now has over 20 columnists writing on an array of interesting topics from fashion to health and more. Updated 24/7 and throughout the night and day, the website offers 'weekly' news updates emailed directly to their over 25,000 subscribers each Friday featuring their top 70 articles of the week.