General comment: if you use a simulator then you have just added another layer of potential bugs to your project.
Especially for the sort of thing you are doing, I would recommend that you use the physical device.
There are *lots* of examples of I2C coding for dsPIC33F (and PIC24 - close enough to the same for this module) on the internet.
I would not make the assumption that code for a PIC16 will translate well to a dsPIC33.
Also, if you don;t show us your code then we can't help you with that aspect.
Finally, never set the DEBUG config bit to anything - let the IDE do that. In fact I note the data sheet has stopped mentioning that bit and simply marks it as 'reserved'.
Susan