You must first understand what is meant by "advanced" or "challenging".
It's all in the same ocean, same salinity, right?
Advanced diving occurs when you are exposed for the first time to one (and more) elements that you had not yet previously encountered.
Think back. For a while there, you were had reached the level of Master Swimming Pool Diver. You mastered all of those challenges. And that took a lot!
Your first boat dive... you began to notice the differences after that in other dive boats- not only how they were shaped and outfitted, but how the crew operated. Everything was different.
After we get certified, maybe we'll try some shore diving. My dive buddy did about 30 shore dives at CoCiView Roatan. When she went off to Bonaire, she thought she knew all about shore diving. Wrong. In Bonaire, it isn't wading into a calm warm clear pool with an anchor chain on the bottom taking you out and safely back. In Bonaire, there is some surf, iron shore coral, and you "have to remember where you parked". One isn't better than the other, just different versions of shore diving.
As we progress in ability and knowledge, we gain new experience that we, as proficient student divers, must analyze and adapt to our own uses.
Liveaboards? They are all shaped differently. What to expect? What to think about?
Are you ready to do giant stride entries from 1 to 4 feet above the water? Or maybe do an "on cue" backroll off of a Zodiac? How about a "negative buoyancy" entry, as may be needed in a surface current so as to descend quickly?
Are you redy lo learn about lateral currents that make you fly along and how to duck and hide from them? Are you ready to hold on to lava rock to watch sharks glide by- as well as hold on to your second stage as it bobbles in the current?
How about "downwelling" currents that can suck you dangerously deep in seconds... how to recognize them and how to react... instantly? Nothing you can't learn, but bad to add with one or six other new tasks.
When the dive is nearing completion, have you rigged and learned to deploy your sausage from 20fsw and wait below at your safety stop at 15fsw until the Zodiac arrives? Do you know how to ascend slowly and doff your BC, passing it up to the boatman? Can you then pull yourself aboard? Do you know to stay low and make yourself "small" so others can be assisted (by you) in reboarding?
No- this isn't to scare you, anybody can do all of this stuff. But are you ready to learn a whole lot of new things at once? (task loading)
Take your diving "in steps". Get incremental experience.
You will also some day understand that "big critters" are a great place to start your dive career. When you are truly advanced, you will search out the micro critters, after having mastered perfect buoyancy, having excellent observational skills and carry a flashlight and magnifying glass on a lanyard.
Take it in steps. Do a nice comfy nearby Caribbean liveaboard, be it Blackbeards or Nekton... get lots of dives in under varying conditions. Then throw down the big money for the Indo-Pacific trips... after you have mastered diving to the point where you can appreciate the view thru the mask faceplate.
Dive lots.
