CRUISE TO BEAR MOUNTAIN AND BACK (Sept. 2 and 15, 9 a.m.-6 p.m.) and DAY SAILS AND CRUISES TO THE STATUE OF LIBERTY (at various times) from Pier 62, Chelsea Piers. It’s not too late to book a summer cruise. Although Classic Harbor Line won’t get you to the Caribbean, it offers a variety of less far-flung family-friendly excursions. Its all-day adventure to Bear Mountain State Park, in the Palisades region, begins with a three-hour yacht ride north on the Hudson River. Participants then disembark for an afternoon in the park, whose attractions include the Trailside Museums and Zoo, a swimming pool, a wildlife-themed merry-go-round, playing fields and nature trails. The company provides a full breakfast buffet, snacks for hiking, and a barbecue picnic during the 3 p.m. cruise home. (Families can also take their own lunches.) But if your kids aren’t ready for a daylong trip, consider options like the two-hour Day Sail to the Statue of Liberty on board a schooner or the one-hour Statue of Liberty Cruise on a 1920s-style yacht. You’ll view Lower Manhattan landmarks as well as America’s most famous monument.

212-627-1825, sail-nyc.com

[Read about the events that our other critics have chosen for the week ahead.]

GREAT NORTH RIVER TUGBOAT RACE AND COMPETITION at Piers 83 and 84, Hudson River Park (Sept. 1, 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m.). Tugboats are the workhorses of the maritime industry, and you don’t expect them to race, any more than you would a Clydesdale or a Percheron. But race they do at this annual event, which also offers children nautical activities. Everything is free except the optional tickets for a Circle Line Sightseeing Cruise that will board at 10:15 a.m. at Pier 83, near 42nd Street, and follow the tugs’ parade north to the starting line of the race, near 72nd Street. (Advance purchase is recommended.) The spectator vessel will then accompany the dozen or so tugs back to the finish line at Pier 84, where more fun will await, like nose-to-nose pushing battles for the boats and best tattoo and mascot competitions for the crews. The Working Harbor Committee, the event’s sponsor, will show kids how to toss lines and invite them to enter its Popeye-inspired spinach-eating contest, which this year will include a new peewee category for ages 3 to 6.

212-757-1600, workingharbor.org

NEW YORK CITY UNICYCLE FESTIVAL at various locations (through Sept. 1). Many young people look forward to navigating the world on their own wheels, a process that usually begins with three, advances to two and finishes at four. This annual event, however, focuses on traveling on just one. Presented by the merry vaudevillians known as the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus, this free celebration, the 10th annual, features Brooklyn Unicycle Day, which starts at 2 p.m. on Friday on the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge. Participants will then ride the 13 miles to Coney Island for an evening that ends with fireworks at 9:30. Inexperienced riders are advised to join only the bridge crossing, but they and pure neophytes will have plenty of opportunities to ride a unicycle on Saturday and Sunday at Governors Island, where the festival continues from noon to 5 p.m. Both days will offer riding lessons (families should bring their own helmets), while on Saturday, there will be basketball and a public show, and on Sunday, a jump rope contest and sumo wrestling (no loincloth required).

nycunifest.com

‘OCEAN DREAMS’ at Sony Square NYC (Aug. 29-31 and Sept. 3, noon-7 p.m.; Sept. 1, noon-6 p.m.). The New Caledonian barrier reef can sound awfully appealing on a hot day in Manhattan, and this free indoor installation will immerse you in its atmosphere, if not its waters. Set up within Sony Square — a modest-size exhibition space that families who miss the defunct Sony Wonder Technology Lab might enjoy — “Ocean Dreams” features undersea footage of that jewel-colored South Pacific reef on a giant screen, as well as an accompanying soundtrack to listen to on headphones. Presented with SeaLegacy, an environmental organization, the show includes information on aquatic conservation and opportunities for high-tech play: Small children can match plush versions of ocean mammals with the sounds that the real animals make, and use a touch screen to color in a sea creature and set it loose in a digital aquarium. Older kids can experiment with KOOV, a robotics-and-coding kit enabling them to build moving models like a crab or a whale. The space has a few nonoceanic lures, too, including the robot dog Aibo and a saber-wielding virtual-reality game.

212-833-8800, sony.com/square-nyc