Fear of water

[hatpat]

My two-year-old DD, otherwise quite intrepid and daring, seems to have acquired a fear of water. When we go swimming now she will just venture to the top step of the baby pool (where she used to go right in) and splash happily.
On holiday, when we were going on a boat trip, she had hysterics at the mere sight of the boat (but not the water). She quite happily played on the beach.
Does anyone else have experience of this?
I am not too worried yet as she enjoys herself at the pool, but she did seem genuinely frightened at the sight of the boat.

Message withdrawn

My toddler ds went through a phase between about 20m and 2-and-bit when he suddenly became afraid of things. Sometimes it would be for no apparent reason, sometimes it would be as a result of getting startled by something. I think the only thing to do is try first explaining and gradually approaching/exploring the object of the fear together, and if that doesn't help then just letting it be. As long as your dd knows that you will be there to protect her, she will gradually growout of the fear. I wouldn't avoid water completely, but continue taking her swimming, for walks by ponds, whatever, without making her go any closer than she feels comfortable. Eventually she will see that mummy isn't bothered either by the thing, or by her (dd's) fear and it will become a non-issue.