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FLORIDA KEYS — Not long after Christopher Columbus landed in the New World in 1492, adventurer Ponce de Leon was searching for the elusive fountain of youth when he sighted the Florida Keys.

The day was Sunday, May 15, 1513. Spanish chronicler Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas described the Keys for posterity: "To all this line of islands and rock islets they gave the name of Los Martires (The Martyrs) because, seen from a distance, the rocks as they rose to view appeared like men who were suffering; and the name remained fitting because of the many that have been lost there since."

ISLAMORADA, Florida Keys - Florida Keys sportfishing is destined for primetime broadcast attention when a new television reality series debuts on The Weather Channel.

The first episode of "Reel Rivals," is to air Tuesday, May 7, at 9 p.m. ET/PT and is to feature the daily competiveness of Keys sportfishing captains George McElveen, Nick Stanczyk, his uncle Scott Stanczyk and Augie Wampler.

On June 21, 1513, explorer Ponce de Leon and his shipmates discovered a group of islands they named Las Tortugas (The Turtles) for the scores of sea turtles they harvested there.

Today, 500 years after that discovery, modern explorers can follow de Leon's lead and visit the seven tiny coral-and-sand islands now known as Dry Tortugas National Park.