Stepping aboard, one of the first things I noticed was the Portofino transom, with a walkthrough on the starboard side of the boat, and this was odd to my eye. Dean explained that the reason for this placement of the ladder and access came from his experience as a paua diver and dealing with divers at the surface. With the diver on the same side as the helmsman, he can keep the diver in view at all times as he manoeuvres the boat, and this greatly increases the safety of all concerned. If it was on the more common port side, the helmsman cannot see the diver when they are behind the transom or down the non-visible port side of the boat.