It's because of Vice City's poor draw distance.
I agree with you.
Look at the 2nd screenshot... or is VC's draw distance 2 feet?
I am talking about that black rock formation which you're terming as ghostly. It happens a lot, these kind of glitches are too common. And there's nothing special in the 2nd photo. The only thing which is associated with the rocks are Sea Caves which are glitch themselves. It's nothing ghostly, it's because of the draw distance, the color is glitched.
2002 game = weird draw distance.
gta 5 = improved