Unfortunately I have to work in crawl spaces a lot. I don a cheap Tyvek jump suit/coveralls with a hood over my regular clothes. You can find them in the paint dept of Lowe's or HD for about $20. I also wear boots, mechanics gloves and some safety glasses. There are always some bugs, spiders, and I've met a woodchuck or two. Take a good flashlight and check ahead of you carefully to avoid any unpleasant encounters. At least we don't have poisonous snakes in Maine!!!!!! OMG!!!!! Good Luck.
You would certainly need to consult a structural engineer and get all plans approved and permitted before beginning work. It will be expensive but since you indicate willingness here goes.... It is completely possible to relocate that post. The question will always be price and design. In my humble opinion the work isn't even all that difficult once you know exactly which material and sizes are required for the load.
That support post is compression support for the visible beam. In order to properly move it you would likely need to add two vertical support beams with a perpendicular cross member to take their place. This member would likely be steel.
That new beam could go below the existing beam (with the existing beam sitting atop it) but depending on the span and the load this would fill in significant headroom and break your clean ceiling line.
Alternatively, depending on the roof structure, you may be able to hang the new beam above the visible beam inside the attic space. This would have the added benefit of not eating interior headroom. You would probably place the vertical beams inside the wall where the bear painting is, and the wall to the left of the sink.
Either approach should work. Neither is significantly complex for a structural engineer. They will both likely be quite expensive to do.
EDIT: So how will they change it? What's involved? If you put the beam below the existing one, then temporary support posts will be constructed on both sides of the existing post. The post would then be removed and a replacement beam jacked in place beneath it.
If the beam is to be "hung" from a new crossmember then the existing post will stay in place while the new posts are built. The beam would be jacked up slightly from both sides, and a steel hanger bracket would be placed under it, fastening it to the new in-ceiling beam. Finally, the existing post is removed.
In both cases a support immediately below the beam, beneath the floor, should give support all the way to foundation which means that you may need to pour in the crawlspace and tie into the existing stem walls.
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"Shim" to me means something thin, for example the thinner blocks of wood at the top and bottom of the stack. Often a shim is very thin, so when you searched for "steel shim" you probably found pieces of metal about the thickness of paper or posterboard. That's not what the inspector intended.
The photo shows thin wood pieces (about 3/4" thick?) at the top and bottom of the stack. These could be replaced by pieces of steel plate. A steel supplier local to you might offer pre-cut pieces called "gusset plates." They're often trianglular but hopefully you can find squares. They'll have a variety of sizes and thicknesses, likely ranging 4-12 inches across and 1/8 to 1/2 inch thick. Neither the size nor the thickness is tremendously important for your case -- I'd choose a square piece that is at least as wide as the floor joists/beams. Stack several pieces so that they build up to a height that matches the existing wood shims, or get more or fewer if you want to adjust the floor's height while doing this swap.
If gusset plates aren't available you can get "flat bar" and cut it into pieces yourself or ask the supplier to cut it. Or call a steel fabrication shop and ask them to source material and make the pieces to size for you.
The entire stack of wood could also be replaced with steel. That might take the form of a square or round tube standing vertically with gusset plates welded to both ends. Again, a steel fabrication shop could build this part for you.
As for how to do the replacement: jacks and cribbing. Crawl in there with two or more bottle jacks. Place cribbing to support the joists in case a jack should fail. Use the jacks to raise the joists just enough to remove the pile of wood blocks and insert the metal parts. Gently release the jacks and remove cribbing.