We report on a picosecond ultrasonics study of nanostructures using high-frequency ultrasound in water. A sound pulse is generated when an ultra short laser pulse is absorbed in a transducer structure. The sound then propagates across a thin layer of water and is reflected from the surface of the sample being examined. The efficiency of optoacoustic detection of the reflected sound is enhanced through the use of a resonant optical cavity. We report on experiments in which sound is reflected from patterned nanostructures. In these experiments we are able to study the propagation of sound down channels of width as small as 35 nm.