[Ask him again when he's going along with Sokka in a canoe to fetch you off a sandbank.]

Doesn't mean you have to go in blind. [He stretches - pops something painfully in his back and holds back a wince.] There anything you're gonna have a harder time getting used to? Konoha's not exactly close to the ocean or anything either, but we still have more water sources.

[IE. He does have some experience with battles on a waterfront, not to mention the fact he's been drafted one more time than her, until now.]